Microfluidic processes often employ detection methods involve determining spectroscopic properties of light from a sample, where the light may be scattered from a sample, or emitted as chemiluminescence by a chemical process within a sample, or transmitted through a sample, or selectively absorbed by a sample, or emitted as fluorescence from a sample following excitation. The outcomes of the spectroscopic assays can then be determined by running the samples past an optical detector to measure the optical intensities. For example, samples that yield relatively high fluorescence intensity may be interpreted as having a large concentration of fluorescently-labeled material, whereas relatively dim droplets may be interpreted as having a low concentration of fluorescently-labeled material. This allows information about the efficiency of the reaction to be inferred based upon the optical intensity detected.
However, such measurements can be sensitive to noise such that two samples with identical content in fluorescent dyes, as in the case of fluorescence-based assays, may be classified differently due to variations in measurements, making the analysis difficult and inaccurate. This can result from imperfection in the microfluidic processing of the samples but can also be due to electronic and optical noise, changes in environmental conditions, or any combination of the above. Accordingly, there is a need for a technique to manage the variation in spectroscopic intensity measurements.
The present invention provides a method for managing variation in spectroscopic intensity measurements through the use of a reference component.
Citation or identification of any document in this application is not an admission that such document is available as prior art to the present invention.